President Biden announced on Monday that the leader of Al Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri, was killed in a US drone missile strike in Kabul, Afghanistan, as he stepped out on his balcony on Sunday.
US intelligence officials say no other people were injured or killed.
The victim was considered to be one of the planners and organizers of the 911 attacks in the US, that killed nearly 3,000 people.
The drone attack is the first confirmed US strike inside Afghanistan since US troops and diplomats left the country.
“Now justice has been delivered, and this terrorist leader is no more,” US President Joe Biden spoke to the press at the White House on Monday. “No matter how long it takes, no matter where you hide, if you are a threat to our people, the United States will find you and take you out.”
The Taliban government confirmed the strike and called it a violation of “international principles.”
A spokesperson for the interior ministry confirmed that a rocket hit a house in Sherpoor, an upscale residential neighborhood in Kabul but he would not confirm any injuries.
White House spokesman, John Kirby, said that the US will not try to get DNA evidence of Zawahiri’s death, but that it has sufficient evidence to confirm his demise. A senior Biden administration official told reporters that the US intelligence agency has “high confidence” that Zawahiri was killed by the strike.
Zawahiri had been in hiding for several years and the intelligence community has been working on the operation to find and kill him for a long time, tracking Al Qaeda’s presence in Afghanistan since the US’s withdrawal from the country.
They were able to identify Zawahiri and his family in the safe house in Kabul.
Zawahiri appeared on his balcony several times in the past, but Sunday for the final time.
In preparation for the attack, President Biden had been meeting with advisors and his Cabinet over the last few weeks. He was briefed on July 1 on the final plans for the drone strike operation in a meeting in the White House Situation Room with members of his cabinet and CIA Director William Burns.
